Taking some time off work really paid off; as if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to finish the project within the confines of the AX deadline. Well, I think I could have, but it would have really been pushing things. From the last update, I started attaching the completed pieces of the project to the base. The silos and pipe works were glued onto the base. The tower light was attached and glued into position. The one building was also glued onto the base. Once these pieces were in place, I taped off some border areas and using some elmer’s white glue thinned down slightly with water; painted the watered down glue and then carefully sprinkled some colored ballasts (model train store scenics stuff) The stuff is great for replicating gravel and comes in a variety of colors. The damaged base area was painted with the diluted white glue and more gravel was applied. Once the glue completely dries; a few hours as the stuff dries pretty quickly (I let it sit for at least 8 hours as I’m paranoid). I did an enamel wash with a few colors to give a some dimension to the gravel. I also dropped in some more diluted white glue and added some yellow turf as a weedy undergrowth.

With the resin cured, I used some water effects from Woodland Scenics (which is basically a repackaged clear gloss medium – a clear gesso), and using a wood tongue depressor, created some waves to get the effect of the Zulu rising out of the water and making all sorts of splashes. This stuff takes a long time to cure. Longer if the application is thicker. So the thinner areas cured up relatively fast and goes completely clear. The bigger waves stayed white for a while.

The sides of the base needed some attention, so I did a quick stain for the balsa wood with a paper towel, then sealed it all up after it cured with a semi gloss clear finish.

During this week’s Those Gundam Guys Live (towards the end of the video):

I used some enamel white paint and drybrushed over the water effects to complete the water effect.

The last few days were spent finishing up little details such as the cars. The parking lot needs some vehicles. I also added in some people running from the scene and just reacting to the scene. The white Bronco is heading towards the GM/Zogok confrontation and slamming on the brakes, hence some smoke off the front wheels and tire marks on the pavement.

The four LED points, Tower, Underground Base, Zee Zulu, and Zogok are wired to an arduino microprocessor with a bluetooth connection. The microprocessor is programmed to spit out a morse conversation between the Zulu and Zogok. And with that, I’m done! This will be at Anime Expo 2015 for the Gunpla Builders World Cup Qualifier; and I know there is some pretty tough competition, so we’ll see how this does. If you are at AX, and see us in our SCGMC 2015 T-shirts:

Come chat with us. We have two workshops at AX this year and if you’re interested in getting the SCGMC 2015 Shirts, we’ll have them on hand for sale at AX too!

Ok, enough plugging, here’s the complete pictures for the diorama. I don’t have the lights turned on but will take a short little video of that after AX.

8 Responses to “Operation Sucker Punch!”

Great job my friend.i like the enviroment and his elements.mecha’s painting is very realistic and cool!maybe their posing would be better with some dinamic effects,like dust and smoke!
I follow you with pleasure,keep on building and painting!

Looks great Clem, though the pose of the GMs and Zogock seems a bit stiff. I’m struggling with this on one of my current projects as well, I’ve found it difficult to give the machine a sense of motion.
Specifically, with regard to the fallen GM it seems a bit strange that his feet are still planted level on the ground (kind of makes him look like he took a seat instead of falling over.)
The Zogock’s pose seems a bit static. He doesn’t look like he’s moving. Since he’s punching I’d try to show that motion in more of the body – you don’t just punch from the arm, you punch from the legs, hips, shoulders, etc. Show more extension in the body as it maximizes the impact on the GM.
As for the GM-C getting punched: Getting hit in the chest you’d expect the limbs to move forward from inertia and in a reflexive attempt to counterbalance – which they are. But if the arms are down there, did the GM have its arms even lower, like down at its sides before it got punched? Assuming the GM had time to at least try to level its weapons at the Zogock, I’d expect its arms to be up higher. That could also help drive home the sense of motion and distress.
Overall the GM-C looks like it took the impact square in the chest, and its torso moved straight back. That works, but other kinds of impact might be easier to convey effectively: putting the impact off-center in one direction or another would throw the GM’s trajectory into a more chaotic state, putting some spin or tilt on him which might offer some helpful possibilities for conveying motion.
In a general sense I think portraying a punch at the moment of impact is a bit problematic: if it really is the moment of impact then the one taking the hit hasn’t really reacted to the hit yet. Conversely if the one taking the hit has had time to double over or fall backward, then the impact has already occurred. Either way I think you can’t effectively show a punch at the moment that it’s happening.
Overall I try to think of what happened here: somehow the Zogock got in close on these two GMs, had time to incapacitate one and punch the other one: how? Did it come running past (and bounding over) the construction vehicle? Did it come flying out of the water? Drop out of the sky? To be able to take out the GM-D before the GM-C could take it down, did the GM-C have its back turned or something? How do you figure it all went down? (It almost seems like the poor Zulu doesn’t have anything to do here)
I don’t mean to lecture, but I think there’s potential for improvement here, and as I struggle to deal with these kinds of issues myself I like to try to come up with solutions where I see problems. I deal with all these issues logically, and of course a scene like this doesn’t need to be perfectly logical: the analysis is just a tool to help find a solution to the problem of stiff-looking poses.

I cant question poses because when things get hit i cant tell what strange way the machine will fall but…

uh can i ask a stupid nitpicky question?
how could the zogok get where it is and not hit any of the junk around it (okay maybe it ran and turned around, and attacked and maybe the gm chased him into melee… but then those people should have run a little farther than right under them…i think he should have hit that tower or something

yeah i know its kinda stupid to say that, but it just to me seems like thease guys were pulled from the warp into these positions. because it looks like more time should have caused slightly more collateral damage

I mean, you did enter it into a competition so nitpicking the scene should be valid?

also its really awesome and i’m a jerk for nitpicking because i cant do anything near that good and i watch your posts to learn how to be better.

Naw! Nitpicking is very valid. I’ve actually already been told about the progression of things. But I was pretty set in the design so I didn’t want to change it. But you guys are right, there is a missing, “how the hell did the Zogok get there?” feel…. my only explanation is from 0080, zugoks and hygogs popped out of the water and just landed on the base as a surprise. Pure luck these guys didn’t damage anything around I guess. But there you have it.